


Close and Open, Demons and the Dead

by mstenshouin



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: A lot of people die lmao, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/M, Female Pronouns for Narukami Arashi, Im not sure yet, Imagine the walking dead, Just know a lot of blood, M/M, Some of the deaths might be explained in detail, Two years after the ES!! timeline, like that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26429983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mstenshouin/pseuds/mstenshouin
Summary: Honestly, if this was how he was going to die, he'd have tried to repent for what he'd done.
Relationships: Hakaze Kaoru/Sakuma Rei, Hibiki Wataru/Tenshouin Eichi, Isara Mao/Sakuma Ritsu (implied), Kagehira Mika/Narukami Arashi (implied), Mashiro Tomoya/Shino Hajime, Morisawa Chiaki/Shinkai Kanata, Sena Izumi/Tsukinaga Leo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Close and Open, Demons and the Dead

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to put potential triggers at the beginning of each chapter, so don't worry about being surprised by anything! 
> 
> CW/TW for this chapter!!  
> \- Blood  
> \- Slight gore  
> \- Choking

"Akehoshi-kun, don't just suddenly make Isara-kun stop on the brakes like that!"

Mao was grateful he'd had his license for a year already, or Subaru suddenly screaming for him to stop might've caused him to crash. But, seeing as how he was the first and only one in his unit to get his license (How that happened is a mystery to him, since both Makoto and Subaru are older than him), he'd had a bit of practice dealing with Subaru yelling at everything he saw as they passed by. Usually, it was about something cool he'd seen as they passed that he demanded Trickstar go visit one day, and other times it was about how many cool cars were on the highway that day. 

But this was the first time he was told to stop because there was someone on the road.

"It's fine, Makoto, I'm used to it." Mao laughed sheepishly, having pulled on to the side of the highway and put his car in park. "Besides, it's nothing Susy can't handle!" This caused a sigh from Hokuto, the dark-haired male having pressed a hand to his forehead and an exasperated look on his face.

"What kind of name is Susy...? I still can't understand why you called her that."

"Don't insult her in front of her face, Hokuto!" Mao tapped his car's steering wheel lightly, a playful frown on his face. "It's ok, Susy, your name is great. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Hokuto went to speak before a sudden click sounded throughout the car, and the male was suddenly looking over his shoulder from the passenger's seat to look behind him. Mao couldn't understand why the male suddenly looked upset until he spoke. "Idiot, where are you going?!" The male was then following Subaru out of the car since the orange-haired male had suddenly decided that he 'wanted to go check on the person on the road'. This, of course, sent Mao and Makoto after him, since neither of them wanted to just sit in the car anyway, making sure to close all the doors to the car. As Mao got out of the car, he noticed the number of cars backed up on the highway and was a bit distraught about something. All these people seemed to be going one way; out of the city. How long has this man been lying here, and how come they're the first group of people to try and help this man?

"Hello~? Sir? Are you ok?" Subaru's voice called, the orange-haired male squatting next to the unconscious man on the floor. Mao immediately smelled blood, and his instinct was to grab his phone. If the man was passed out and bleeding, they'd need an ambulance. As much as Mao wanted to help people, he refused to get blood on Susy.

"Stop poking him, Akehoshi-kun!" Makoto cried out, trying to stop Subaru from constantly poking the man's body. "He might be injured, and poking him might make it worse!"  
  
"I just wanna see if he's awake." Subaru huffed, pulling away from Makoto. Hokuto, having apparently had enough of the games, stepped forward, crouched down, and pressed two fingers up against the man's neck. Hokuto frowned for a moment, his eyebrows pressing together in worry. "What is it, Hokke?" Subaru asked, tilting his head in a form of innocence that would make you think he wasn't 20, but instead 10. 

Hokuto was silent for a moment more before looking over at Mao, who had a phone pressed to his ear and his own concern visible on his face. "Isara?"

"I'm... trying to contact 119, but all I'm getting is a busy tone."

 _That_ was weird. 119 isn't ever busy. Ever. There's always someone available to answer, that's why they pay so much for there to always be 119 responders, so what was the reason for the busy tone? "Hokuto, does that man have a pulse?" Mao asked, to which Hokuto shook his head. 

"Is he... dead?" Makoto asked in horror, taking a few steps back. 

"Huh?! Well, we can't just leave him here, we gotta take him to a hospital!" Subaru spoke up, an alarmed look on his face. Hokuto was surprised, honestly, that Subaru looked so intense. But he supposed seeing a corpse would cause anyone to suddenly switch gears like that.

Mao hung up the phone, and then immediately pressed it back to his ear. "I'll keep trying 119 with Isara. You two stay here in case his symptoms change." Hokuto spoke, and with that, both Mao and Hokuto headed back towards the car, both with phones in their hands. This gave Makoto time to finally examine the man, and holy _shit_ did this guy look bad. The back of his head was covered in blood, maybe from falling on the highway or something, and his skin looked sickly pale. There maybe was no saving this guy, in all honesty, but he would feel guilty if they didn't try and they could've saved him. The blood on the man's shirt on the left side of his stomach caught his attention since that seemed like a rather... weird spot for blood if he hit his head. But after examining it closer, it looked like there was something else there. 

Wait, was that a bite mark?

"Akehoshi-kun, look at that." Makoto suddenly blinked a few times as he moved to the man's side, and Subaru turned his attention to that as well. "It looks like he was bitten by something.."

"Maybe an animal?" Subaru frowned, his eyes staring at the wound. "Part of me wants to lift his shirt up to look..."

"Are you crazy?! Ew!" Makoto shook his head rapidly, sticking his tongue out in a form of disgust. "Don't touch him, especially if he's.. you know, dead. Respecting the body, and stuff." He sighed, and before any more words could be spoken on the matter, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Standing up and moving a bit away from the body and Subaru, he looked at his phone and sighed in exasperation.

' _The Creep_ '

What could he possibly want now? He was tempted to ignore it, but he knew if he did, he'd have to deal with the attitude of ignoring a call later... So with another sigh and a pinch to the bridge of his nose, he answered and pressed the phone to his ear.

"What is it, Izumi-san? I'm busy right now, can you-"

"Yuu-kun! Where the hell are you?!"

Woah, that was a weird greeting. No 'hi', no 'big brother missed you', nothing? Makoto rose an eyebrow questioningly, wondering if he was really talking to Izumi. "I'm with Trickstar right now..? Why, what's-"

Izumi cut him off with a yell to someone else on his end. "Kuma-kun, Yuu-kun and Isara are together!-- Nevermind that, Yuu-kun, you need to come here, now!"

"Wait, what? Go where?" Makoto was really confused at the moment. Izumi was just going on about things Makoto couldn't understand and wasn't bothering to explain it. "Izumi-san, what're you talking about?"

"Listen to me, Yuu-kun! You need to leave wherever the hell you are and come to ES Square, now! Where are you?!"

"I-I don't know, Isara-kun was driving! I didn't pay attention!" Makoto responded quickly, growing more and more concerned as he looked around for any signs about where they were. "But I can't leave now, there's some man on the highway that's dead and we're trying to help him.."

Izumi's breathing seemed to get caught in his throat for a moment before he was yelling again. "Was he bitten?!"

"..Huh?"

"Yuu-kun, did the man have a bite mark in him?"

How the hell did Izumi know that?

"H-He did, but it wasn't that-"

"You need to leave him and get the hell out of there, Yuu-kun! He's not actually dead, he-"

There was a scream that cut him off, and Makoto almost dropped his phone. He wondered for a second if it was on Izumi's end, but the loud growling from behind him helped him clarify exactly what was going on. Turning around, Makoto went to call out to Subaru, only to stop what he was doing and freeze completely. It genuinely felt like some scene from a horror movie, and every part of his body wanted to just run immediately, because what he saw was the sight of the supposed dead man suddenly with his teeth lodged into Subaru's shoulder, biting down and ripping a chunk out of him. Subaru was just yelling in pain, eyes filled with tears as his hands pushed at the shoulders of the thing on top of him.

"Akehoshi!" Hokuto suddenly yelled, running over to the two and pulling the man off of his friend. The man, now growling and garbling his words, had eyes glazed over, and his face somehow looked hollowed in, despite not having looked that way when they initially found him. Subaru scrambled away, holding his now bleeding shoulder with tears falling down his face, and Hokuto was still holding the man back, who was now struggling and still trying to get to Subaru. Mao, having put his phone away, rushed over to Subaru's sides, clearly trying to keep his composure.

"H-He bit me! Why does it hurt so badly...?!" Subaru cried out, not seeming to realize how bad his wound was. It wasn't some playful bite, and it wasn't gentle, either, because Subaru was missing a few layers of skin and was bleeding pretty badly. 

"Relax, Subaru, I-I'll drive you to the hospital, so relax!" Mao reassured, leading the crying male back to his car. "Makoto, Hokuto, let's get going! Leave that man there! We don't have time to help him!"

So much for not getting blood inside Susy.

Makoto watched as Hokuto threw the man to the ground, and immediately began running to the car again. "Yuuki, let's go!" He was also back at the car, and Makoto had to nod a few times to himself before he followed the male, Mao back in the driver's seat as he shrugged off the jacket he'd been wearing, handing it to Makoto. "Here, press this to Subaru's wound, we gotta stop as much blood as we can!" 

The blonde nodded frantically, grabbing the jacket with one hand and pressing it to Subaru's wound as the car started, and green eyes watched the figure of the man grow a bit further away as Mao got them back on to the highway, which was still cluttered with traffic but wasn't at a complete standstill. Makoto still holding the phone with the other hand. The phone, shit, he completely forgot about it. When he zoned back in, he could desperately hear Izumi calling to him. "I-I'm here Izumi-san, I'm fine!"

"You scared the shit out of me!" Izumi hissed, clear concern in his tone. "What the hell happened, I heard screaming!"

"A-Akehoshi got bit by the man-!"

"He _what_?"

" _What about Maa-kun? Is Maa-kun ok?_ " Whose voice was that? It sounded familiar, but with how distant it sounded, he couldn't tell exactly who it was, but whoever it was was desperate to get their question answered.

"Isara, is he ok?" Izumi asked, clearly worried about that himself. 

"I-Isara-kun and Hidaka-kun are ok...! It was just Akehoshi-kun who got bit...!" Makoto reassured, still holding the jacket to the wound as Subaru tried to stop his tears, but damn if his shoulder didn't hurt. "Izumi-san, what's going on...?! I don't understand, what's the bite matter?!"

"The man that bit Subaru-kun... I-I don't know what the hell they are, no one knows, it's been all over the news, but these... zombies, people are calling them, are coming back from the dead and eating people. And if you get eaten by one, you... you turn _into_ one, Yuu-kun..! So now that he's been bitten..." Izumi ranted, a frantic tone about him. "You guys can't be around him anymore. Otherwise, he'll turn and he'll bite you all, and you'll all turn into the same thing as that man!"

..Huh? Was he hearing things properly? Was this some dream of his that's just been going on for too long? Seriously, how did he end up here? Weren't the four of them just gonna go out to lunch? He would ask if Izumi was kidding - if this was a prank, but with the way Izumi's been talking, the man who's pulse had been gone but then was up and moving again, there was no way this was some elaborate plan. Makoto swallowed harshly, his hands shaking as he tried to keep it together. He didn't want to die. He really, really didn't. But if it was him or Subaru...

"...Thank you, Izumi-san. We'll head over to ES Square immediately." Makoto spoke gently, his hands hanging up the phone call and lowering the jacket from Subaru's wounds. This was fucked up. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't, he shouldn't, it shouldn't even be a thought that crossed his mind. Maybe there was a cure. Maybe Subaru wouldn't become one of those things. Maybe he wouldn't... Maybe... Maybe...

Maybe he had to protect everyone.

"U-U... Ukki...? I-It hurts, Ukki... I-I can't... I can't breathe..."

What was he doing? Was he even conscious of what he was doing? Was he even aware that his hands were wrapped around his best friends' neck, squeezing and pressing down and making the already frightened boy even more afraid? Why did it feel like he had no control over what he was doing anymore? He couldn't stop; not when Hokuto began pulling at his shoulder, not when Mao was yelling at Makoto to stop, and not when Subaru was desperately reaching a hand up to Makoto, as if reaching for some sort of salvation. As if Makoto was a God that Subaru was desperately calling for forgiveness. But this God was secretly the devil in disguise, for all he would bring is pain if it was Subaru.

Makoto doesn't know when Subaru stopped breathing. He might've been squeezing for too long, and he doesn't understand how badly he zoned out until he feels blood dripping down his face. His vision is blurry, and for a moment he thought it was because he was crying, but no. He hears Hokuto's yelling and he turns to face him and sees Hokuto's own hand is bloody, and the male is crying himself. Makoto then pieces together what happened; Hokuto must've been punching Makoto to make him stop, and broke Makoto's glasses as he did. That's why Makoto couldn't see.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why did you just kill Akehoshi?!" Hokuto yelled, grabbing Makoto by the shirt. Mao, who also seemed to be hyperventilating from the front seat, grabbed Hokuto's arm. 

"S-Sit down!" Mao called weakly, tears streaming down his own face. 

"You're a murderer, Yuuki! Akehoshi was our friend, and you killed him!"

Makoto felt himself zone out again. Did he kill him? He wasn't really paying attention anymore. What was going on, where was he? Was he going to die too for what he did, even though he was just trying to save them all? He supposed he couldn't blame them, since he would probably feel the same in their shoes... But he didn't know how to defend himself when Hokuto was just yelling at him. 

"Can we all just calm down, please?!" Mao yelled, suddenly turning around from where he was, using one hand to keep the car steady and the other to push at Hokuto. "I understand you're angry, b-but... I'm sure there has to be some reason-"

"There's no reason to justify murder, Isara! Especially not to a friend!" Hokuto yelled, trying to swat away Mao's hold on him. "I'm going to...! I...!"

"Subaru wouldn't want this, so can we all just... calm down?!" Mao yelled again, pulling at Hokuto for a moment. Makoto's eyes focused a bit in front of him as best as they could without his glasses, past their two heads, and focused on the road. Well, it's not like he could see much of the road due to something blocking their path.

"Isara-kun, the road-"

There was the sudden slam, and the car suddenly slammed into something hard, Makoto assumed another vehicle. Mao, panicking, flipped around to grab the steering wheel, but it was way too late to do anything. The car was sent into the air, flipping and turning and sending them off the highway. Hokuto, the unlucky bastard, who wasn't sitting down or had his seatbelt on, was sent hitting the roof of the car, sent back down, and something _snapped_. But Makoto could only focus on trying to keep himself seated, hands gripping the seat in front of him as he ducked his head down. How long the car rolled for, he had no idea, but when it stopped, they seemed to be at the bottom of a hill or something, Makoto's side of the car door pressed up against a tree, keeping him in.

Groaning softly, Makoto's head lifted. Mao was slumped over his steering wheel but seemed to still be breathing. Subaru's body was now face down on the seat, hand having landed on Makoto's leg. Hokuto was laid across the dashboard of the car, head in a position that shouldn't have been humanly possible. ' _His neck must've snapped_ ', Makoto theorized, wincing a bit. "I...Isara-kun? Are you alright?"

Mao, who shifted a bit at the call of his name, slowly lifted his head. His hair clip was gone, probably somewhere in the car, and he seemed to be clutching a photo of something, but he was alive. Mao turned to face him, groaning softly. "I.. I could be better, yeah, but I'm alive." He sighed softly, brushing his hair back from his face. "What about you, are you...?"

"I'm ok, but I can't get out on my side..." Makoto motioned to the door, trying to open it but being met with the tree. 

Mao, sighing once more, ran his hands over the steering wheel once more. "I'm sorry, Susy." He muttered under his breath, glancing over at Hokuto. It took one look for Mao to realize Hokuto had died, and he immediately had to look away before he cried. Climbing out of the car and allowing himself to stand on solid ground for a moment to get himself composed, Mao stretched for a moment, a deep sigh leaving his lips. "Ok, time to get-" His breathing stopped when he looked inside the car again, and his blood ran cold. Makoto didn't even have the time to scream before a pair of teeth sunk into his leg, the hand on his thigh having curled up and clutched on to him.

"...H...Huh?"

Mao watched as Makoto screamed in horror as Subaru, with eyes glazed over like the man, had raised himself up and began _eating_ Makoto. Subaru, who Makoto had strangled to death earlier, was alive again, but was eating Makoto just like the man did earlier. What was that? Mao could register Makoto screaming for help, begging for Mao to help him, but Mao could only stumble back a bit and watch with wide eyes as Subaru ripped through flesh like a kid would with wrapping paper. 

"I-Isara-kun..! Help me...!" Makoto cried, his arm being Subaru's next target, and more tears flowed down his face as he reached his free hand out to him. "Isara-kun, d... don't leave me to die here...!" 

"..I... I..." Mao stammered with tears in his own eyes. What was going on today? First Subaru got bitten, then Makoto strangled him.. Hokuto was dead, and now Subaru's come back to... try and eat him? What was this, some sci-fi movie? Was this a dream? If it was, he needed to wake up, now. Otherwise, he'd end up sleeping in and miss going to Ritsu's house to wake him up for rehearsal.

Ritsu. _Ritsu._ Mao couldn't believe he'd forgotten about him. What would Ritsu do if Mao never came back home? Who would warn Ritsu about what was going on if Mao died here? Ritsu was probably sleeping at home, peacefully, not aware of any of this. Mao can't die here, he _can't_ , he has people to go back to. His mother, his sister, Ritsu... He couldn't die here. He wouldn't let himself die here. 

"I'm sorry, Makoto... I'm sorry.." Mao stammered, his breathing labored as he suddenly turned on his heels and ran. 

"Isara-kun..!" Makoto cried after him, but that was stopped rather quickly as Subaru's teeth found his neck, and Makoto felt his eyes begin to lose focus. He was dying, the amount of blood exiting his body, and soaking Mao's car seats were a sure sign of that. If this was how he was going to die, he might've felt a bit more guilt about killing Subaru like that. Makoto watched Mao's figure go further and further into the distance, and allowed his eyes to close with a faint breath.   
  
"I'm... sorry, Izumi-..san.."

The last thing Makoto could pick up on was the sound of something ringing, but he couldn't live long enough to see. 

' _Ritchan - 20 missed calls._ ' 

* * *

Status

Subaru Akehoshi: Dead (Alive as a walker)

Hokuto Hidaka: Dead (??)

Makoto Yuuki: Dead (??)

Mao Isara: Alive


End file.
